Our first week was spent at Ashley Lake with my parents and my sister, Tamara's family. Since we were with MY family I think it's safe to say that this was my favorite week! We got to do a ton of boating - Jeff and I love to ski and do some wakesurfing, along with my dad and Tamara. Unfortunately Lee had a bummed knee so it was sad to see him unable to do one of his favorite things! It was a lot of fun to see Tamara's kids do their water sports as well. I was very impressed watching Mason get air on the wakeboard...which comes with some face plants that he wasn't too happy about (which is why I stopped wakeboarding!). He also learned to slalom, and Dakota's not too far behind him. Griffin's still young but learning quickly, and we got to play with my crazy little niece Scarlett - the free spirit! She was a cutie, and all of them adored Bentley. I have to thank my mom for staying back with Bentley many times while Jeff and I went on the boat, it was really nice to be able to do that. We did bring Bentley on the boat several times as well and at first she was quite stunned by it, but it didn't take long for her to get used to the boat and fall asleep on it too! We love boating and the best part is when you get that glassy water and your ski just glides through it...there's no better feeling!! I have to say I was slightly worried about getting up this year just because I had Bentley not long ago and didn't know how great my core muscles would be. I was happy when I got up on my first try! Jeff did well also and made sure to fit in his "annual" wakeboard. Haha I don't mind him wakeboarding once a year...I'd rather him not blow his eardrum again!
Well besides boating we did many other activities. A popular thing this year with my family was picking huckleberries. My dad found a great place to pick them just up the road a little ways. One night we all picked berries, making sure to pick the good berries, not the poisonous ones. After picking for about an hour, we combined all of our goods and created one bucket full. Huckleberries are tiny, so it's a lot of work to pick that many! Tamara made pies out of them and also some syrup which we put on our pancakes. It was pretty delicious!
On Monday night we had FHE around the campfire. We told Book of Mormon stories and roasted marshmallows to make smores.
Bentley was super good this week and it was great to have people around to take her now and again. I put her in the blow up pool and she loved kicking her legs and splashing in the water. She sits quite well now but at that point she wasn't sitting so I leaned her against the side and watched her closely. I even put some towels on either side of her at one point as well.
The food was great as well and I made some apple streusel muffins for breakfast and my chipotle chicken burrito bowls for dinner one day. They were quite good and everyone seemed to like them.
When the week was over we packed up our truck and said goodbye to everyone. We drove away from a bunch of sad faces sitting on the deck waving goodbye to us. I wish I had taken a picture. Then we heard cheers as we continued driving. I have quite the hilarious family...oh how I love them!! Haha.
We spent the next week at Echo Lake with Jeff's family. The first 2 days were a family reunion, so I got to meet all of his Dad's family. Most of them I had seen before but I also met a bunch more new faces. All of our meals took place at Jeff's grandparents cabin up the road a ways from Jeff's parents place. It was a bit of a pain dragging Bentley there for every meal (usually during her nap time), but the food was definitely to die for! Jeff and I helped with one dinner and made a peach salad. We also had a gift exchange, which turned out to be really fun. I had bought the movie "Heaven is for Real" along with the game Monopoly Deal and wrapped it up. Jeff's grandparents ended up with it, and we ended up getting their gift, which was a cute little cooler and a Christmas book. There was also a "Family Feud" act that went on which included a bunch of inside jokes about Echo Lake that Jeff had to explain to me. It was fun to meet and hang out with everyone, but when it was over I was ready to do our own thing with Jeff's family alone.
We did some boating and swimming with Jeff's parents, Brent, and Scott and Kellie's family. Jeff took me skiing one day and this is where the less fun part comes in! Jeff drove the boat over a sand bar and totally wrecked it, so we had to take the boat in for repairs. Jeff felt terrible the whole week - like he had ruined everyone's vacation. So that wasn't very fun. Luckily Jeff's Aunt and Uncle took us all out on their boat for the rest of the week. We also played some games, hung out, and went into town one day.
The next week Jeff left to go back to work but I decided to stay one more week and then have Jeff drive back for the weekend and then take me home. I stayed at the Ady's for 2 days, which was a little more lonely with just me, Don, Kellie and her kids left. We hung out at the cabin and went swimming one day and then into town the next day. I met Melanie at the mall and then she took me back to my parent's cabin after a bit of shopping. Jordan had just left from their week of fun at the lake and Melanie wanted to stay a little longer, so I thought I'd come over and keep her company, since my parents had left for home as well. I spent 2 days with her and the kids alone, and then my parents came back. Pretty confusing!! I had fun with Melanie and her kids also. We did a bunch of swimming, hottubbing, and lots of games! Then when my parents came back we got to do some more boating. Unfortunately these were the coldest and rainiest days but we made the most of it and still did our skiing, etc. when it wasn't actually raining. The hottub got some good use. I was also impressed with Skyler and how much he loved to ski and wakeboard. He's also very good for his age! We went into town one day as well, did some shopping, and ate at Famous Dave's. Pretty yummy!
Jeff was planning on coming that weekend, but called to tell me he had too much work at home to do, so I ended up coming home with my parents.
It was a super fun vacation and I can't believe how fast it went! The summer seems to just fly by. Bentley did great with all the moving around and different people. She definitely doesn't play strange like she used to! She seems to thrive now with lots of people around. She learned to say mom, and also has this really funny laugh that sounds like she's a dog, panting. It gets everyone laughing. Most people say they've never seen a baby so happy, so that's good to hear! She loves to eat solid foods and I've introduced her to almost everything, finding nothing that she won't eat. She just loves eating! She's also sitting up quite well, although will still fall backwards the odd time.
Well that sums up our summer vacation!!
